|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
Click Images
|
Nobody wrote more about pirate treasure than Edward Rowe Snow. And nobody fired my desire for pirate coins as much as he did. Because of him, pirates and treasure went hand-in-hand in my youthful imagination. When I was very young, my access to pirate treasure was very limited. In fact it was limited to shaking down my father and uncles who had acquired some coins as souvenirs during World War II. They were exotic, but hardly pirate treasure. My father's coins from the Philippines were mostly minted in 1944 (the same year that I, myself, was minted), and could hardly have constituted a pirate treasure. But they were available. There was a lot of virtue in availability, to be sure. My uncle's offerings of brass Peruvian coins offered more possibilities: they could be polished to look like gold. In a future century, some distraught collector of 10 and 20 Peruvian centavos coins of the 1940s period will decry the fact that some crude fellow polished and scratched dozens and dozens of specimens of these low denomination coins. I hope that this article will survive in some dusty archive so that the blame can be properly affixed on me. It was not until I was 12 years old that I came closer to my heart's desire to actually own some "almost" pirate treasure. My opportunity came when I was vacationing on Cape Cod with my family in the summer of 1956. During those two weeks in July, we motored down Route 6A and dropped in all the antique shops that then existed in the dozens of dozens along that beautiful road. One of these antique shops was owned by a "dealer-in-everything" who went by the name of "Captain Peleg."
He was a Cape Cod “character” who did not work hard at the job of being a "character." His personality had evolved out of the human environment of the Cape in a very natural and typical way. On the lawn of his establishment, he had posted a sign that read, "If You Can't Stop, Just Wave As You Go By." Inside the shop he posted other bons mots. Among them were signs reading, "Yeh, Yeh, Yeh. I Know. You Threw One Out Like It," and, "The Only One Who Was Interested In What Your Grandmother Had Was Your Grandfather." My mother and father got a good laugh out of that last sign. I did not get it until a few years later, but I did not care, because I had just discovered Captain Peleg's case containing his hoard of sea-salvage "pieces-of-eight!" Here were 300 to 500 pieces-of-eight locked in a glass case. I stood transfixed. Here was a real pirate treasure. Well, actually not quite, but as close as I was going to get to one for many years. The coins had been minted in the reigns of Charles III, Charles IV, and Ferdinand VII of Spain. They had also been struck in Mexican mints. As I looked at them – as riveted by greed as any pirate who ever sailed under the "Skull and Crossbones" or swashed his buttle – I wanted those big silver disks struck with those kingly portraits more than a century and a half before. Did I care that they were pitted? Not at all. It only proved that had rested on the bottom of the ocean. They were to me marks of honor. It was lust at first sight. The only question now was could I get any of the pieces-of-eight. I was out of funds, as this was nearly the close of vacation and I had used my personal treasure to buy ancient books, maps, prints, and other things without which I was certain I could not live. My father observed my lust for the almost-pirate-silver, came up to me with $12 in his hand, and said, "Pick out two." He knew that one eight-reals piece just would not be enough. Two would be so much better than one. I was transported with delight. But, which two should I pick? And Captain Peleg was not a patient man. "Okay, okay, kid, don't take all day," said the salty old talker as I tried to make up my mind as to which ones would be best in my infant-sized hoard of pseudo-pirate treasure. At this point, my father (also an old Yankee of the Vermont variety who had been a real sailor – a Seabee – in World War II and a petty officer) growled back, "Give him some time!" The Captain backed off a little grumbling that he had other customers. I swiftly chose two not-so-bad specimens. They were not the oldest coins in the lot, but they seemed to be cleaner than the rest. One was dated 1797 and the other 1802. Both had portraits of Charles IV on the obverse and the arms of Spain flanked with the Pillars of Hercules on the reverse. To me they were beautiful. The dates I had chosen were not by accident. I fancied that these coins could have been part of a lost treasure that found its way to the ocean floor through the piratical depredations of Jean La Fitte. The dates fit the greatest period of his pre-1815 activity, and Jean La Fitte was an important honest-to-God pirate. He did not have the stature of Blackbeard, but he was good enough for me at that point of time, and they gave me a huge measure of pleasure. I poured over the books of Howard Pyle and Edward Rowe Snow to learn more about my pirates. I loved pirates. It was about this time that Mary Martin's production of Peter Pan had hit television. I cheered for the stylish Captain Hook who was played so well by Cryil Richard. I was besotted by pirates and their treasure. "Death to Peter Pan and all the dull good guys!" Eleven years later I was to meet two of my numismatic heroes in the town hall of the little Yankee village of Upton, Massachusetts. At the time, I was teaching in the town of Franklin and was still seeking pirate-era coins. A friend and fellow numismatist, Ken Wood, informed me that Edward Rowe Snow would be at the Upton Historical Society that night. So, off to Upton I went to meet the author of 116 books on pirates and their treasure. I was not disappointed. That huge bear of a man held up the silver-plated skull of the pirates of pirates, "Blackbeard" himself. There he was! He had been cut down in 1718 by Lt. Maynard, a British navel officer of no distinction and less ability. Blackbeard's head had been struck off his body and hanged from the prow of Maynard's ship. Later on it became the property of a Virginian fraternity who silver plated this pirate trophy and implanted a drinking cup into the top of the skull. During the American Civil War, the skull made a series of journeys and ended up in the collection of Edward Rowe Snow. So, here I end the saga. My pirate collection has grown with the addition of many coins, swords, chests, and even the odd doubloon, but nothing is so dear as those two pieces-of-eight. I put them away with great care to keep them safe. I only wish I could remember where. My Calendar If you want to catch up with me in late February, March, and early April, I will be at the following shows: Feb. 29: Tom Lacey’s Greater Worcester Coin Show at Western Yankee Drummer on Route 12 (off exit 10 off the Mass Pike) in Auburn, Mass. Show hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. : March 7: Richard Murphy’s N.E.S.S. Coin and Stamp Show at the Holiday Inn (near the junction of Routes 1A and 128) in Dedham, Mass. Show hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. :March 14: Ernie Botte’s Westford Coin Show at the Westford Regency Inn. To get there take exit 32 off Route 495 to Route 110. :March 28: Willimantic Coin Show in Willimantic, Conn. The Show will be in the Prospect Street School gymnasium, located at 233 Prospect Street at the corner of Hill Street. This 70-table show is held only once a year by the Mansfield Numismatic Society of Storrs, Conn. Call (860) 429-6970 or (860) 456-2442 for show information. Tom Lacey’s Greater Worcester show will also be held March 28. I hope to see all of you Journal readers at the shows. You may email Jim Johnston at johnstonjim8@aol.com You may also wish to check Jim's website
for further updates. www.johnstonantiques.com |
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
M.A. degrees in History and is the author of several books. He has also written more than 1,500 articles and monographs in The Numismatist, Linn’s Stamp News, The Regional Recorder, and other publications.
